George Gilson

 

IF SOME citizens have come up to George Papandreou and volunteered to give up a portion of their salaries for their homeland, as the prime minister recently said they have, then there are obviously others who are having serious second thoughts. 

 

The general strike scheduled for March 11 was being organised by the country’s two largest umbrella unions, the GSEE Greek Confederation of Labour and the ADEDY association of civil servants’ unions. Coming just two weeks after the last general strike, the demonstration signalled that the fight against unprecedented government austerity could be a bitter and protracted one.

 

In the latest poll, by GPO for To Vima, respondents were nearly equally divided on whether the austerity measures are heading “in the right direction” - 47.2 percent said they are, and 48.4 percent said they are not.

 

Also, Papandreou’s approval ratings remained high at 52 percent, with his negative ratings at 47.4 percent. 

 

Other polls suggested a souring of the public mood.

 

A Public Issue poll published by Kathimerini on March 7 showed that only 20 percent of Greeks approve of the pension freeze and the fuel tax hikes that were part of the government’s 4.8 billion euro austerity package announced on March 3. 

 

As for the cuts in bonus salaries, only 10 percent of civil servants approved, while about one-quarter of private sector employees approved. 

 

 

More than one-third of Greeks (36 percent) in the same polls said that successive New Democracy and Pasok governments are responsible for the explosive mixture of huge deficits and skyrocketing national debt. 

 

The government has for months argued that the current fiscal crisis is exclusively the handiwork of the previous ND government, led by Kostas Karamanlis. 

 

Fears were running high that the cuts in the two bonus salaries of civil servants, considered integral parts of all Greek employees’ paycheques, would also be implemented in the private sector. Denials by Labour Minister Andreas Loverdos and representatives of the Federation of Greek Industries (SEV) did little to allay concerns. 

 

While Papandreou had been telling EU partners, based on earlier surveys, that upwards of 60 percent of Greeks supported austerity measures, the latest budget cuts and tax hikes appear to have turned the tide. 

 

According to the GPO poll, 65.3 percent of Greeks say the most recent government measures are unjust. Oddly enough, 65.8 percent say the government delayed in taking measures

 

 

Opposition leftwing parties charged that labourers and lower-income earners are bearing the brunt of a crisis for which they are not responsible. They point to the hike in the VAT, for example, which the poor can afford less easily than those who are well-off. 

 

While Pasok still retains a lead of over 10 percentage points over New Democracy, according to the same poll (31.8 to 21.1 percent), both of the biggest parties have suffered major losses in their base of support since the October general elections. 

 

In a poll conducted by Pulse in the conservative Typos Tis Kyriakis, it emerged that nearly half of those surveyed (46 percent) partly blamed the crisis on Papandreou’s five-month delay in taking tough measures. 

 

A full 90 percent in the same poll blamed previous ND and Pasok governments for Greece’s predicament. However, nearly as many respondents blamed former Pasok PM Kostas Simitis’ governments (76 percent) as those of Kostas Karamanlis (81percent). Moreover, most ND supporters (57 percent) placed blame on Karamanlis, and exactly the same percentage of Pasok supporters blamed Simitis.